>> Saturday, 7 November 2009

FIXEDGEARWALES IS CLOSING IT'S DOORS, PLEASE GO TO THEFOOTDOWN AND UPDATE YOUR RSS FEED. WE WILL BE CROSS POSTING FOR A FEW MORE WEEKS BUT THEN POSTING WILL CEASE HERE, ALL POSTS WILL REMAIN LIVE. YOU CAN READ THE POST BELOW BUT THE NEW SITE IS MUCH NICER SO GO THERE INSTEAD...

Ison Distribution are a company that like to sponsor fixed gear events and now they are stepping up their game by sponsoring a rider. Chris Delia from Hackney is well known for his freestyle riding and it's great to see him getting hooked up.

From now on he's gonna be riding the new Identiti Persona frame (with which he has had design input) with Identiti FFX forks along with the new Halo 24mm wide/25.5mm deep Aerowarrior rims, laced up to Halo Track hubs with Halo Twin Rail Courier Tyres. A pretty sweet set up!

Ison are also sorting him out with parts, he chose the Gusset Pigmy 853 Reynolds cranks, a Gusset G-Wheel chainring, A Gusset Badger chain, Gusset Pinhead plastic pedals and ODI grips.

It's so cool that even though the fixed gear thing is still very much in the "fad" phase there are some companies that are putting their money where their mouth is and supporting rather than just cashing in. Fixed gear freestyle riding is here to stay as is going down hills like a rocket and I'd like to think that many years from now Ison Distribution will still be at the forefront of the scene very much like Shiner is for skateboarding.
Read more...

>> Wednesday, 28 October 2009

Well, I made it out of hospital alive, who'd have thought it? I was actually really well cared for, I can't make a single complaint which I find surprising.

I went down for the operation at about half 3 I think, all the anaesthetists were fellow iPhone users, I gave them some shit for using rubber cases then they pumped me full of something or other before poking needles into my neck to administer the nerve block. They were poking about for a while but I don't remember any pain, when they found the nerve my arm started freaking out, spasming all over the shop, it was quite funny and really interesting. I don't remember them putting me under so the next thing I remember was coming around and having some water cause my throat was pretty sore from the pipe that had been down it.

Back up in the ward I assume I was off my trolley for a bit but I felt no pain at all because the nerve blocker was in full effect, the right side of my face was numb as well as my arm which felt strange. I spent the night watching Season 6 of Curb Your Enthusiasm on my iPod before falling asleep. The pain kicked in at about 3am so I popped a couple Cocodamols which put me back to sleep.

Whilst waiting for my x-ray the next day I continued reading 'One More Kilometre and we're in the Showers' which is a book that I am more than happy to recommend. I was home by 3pm. Now I just sit and wait really, I'm in a sling for 6 weeks then I assume I will start the misery that is physio after that, at the moment my shoulder is still completely numb so I hope that rectifies itself!

My neck is killing, it's bruised to fuck where they were injecting the nerve blocker, look at all those damned muscles in the picture, they all hurt!

This is the area that broke, no doubt all the muscles around the clavicle will be withered and useless by the time the bone is fixed so I'm not gonna be back on the bike for ages :-(

Check out my monged face, it's usually pretty bloody funny looking but this takes the biscuit!

If laughter is the best medicine then Curb is surely the morphine of comedy.

The finished job, I already have 2 plates in my left arm, I am becoming more bionic by the day, I don't want any more no matter how cool robots are!

>> Sunday, 25 October 2009

Yesterday saw the first 6 Cat track event at Maindy outdoor velodrome in Cardiff. Me, Evs and Sion went up but only Sion could race cause me and Evs are temporarily out of action, gutted. The weather couldn't make its mind up, it was nice until race time then pissed down for a bit and soaked the track and kept off-and-oning throughout the rest of the day, nobody cared though.

Everyone enjoyed themselves, it's a nice change for us 'street' riders to hit the velodrome, I wonder how long before we see Chris Hoy skidding through rush hour traffic, haha. There were 6 different events:

- 1 Lap Time Trial (standing start)

- Devil - Bunch race. Last placed rider has to drop out on designated laps.

- Match Sprints - x2 laps, x2 riders - Head to head SpRinT!!

- Scratch race - Bunch race. First across the line wins.

- Cycling Unproficiency Test - Making use of the weird model village thing in the track centre...

I don't have the results yet, I wanted to get this up before I go into hospital tomorrow, I will update the post when I know. It was a great day out, thanks to Steve for putting it on, hopefully we can organise a collab event next summer at the track :-)

Numbering up just before the rain started

Pre-race briefing, was nice to meet Phil (on the right) who is from Swansea and is the proud owner of Julian Schmoos' legendary Mercian!

>> Saturday, 24 October 2009

A week ago I was on my way into town when a car pulled out from a junction right into the road in front of me, I tried my best to swing left around him rather than hit the bonnet but didn't quite make it, I hit the rear drivers side window smashing it into a million pieces. My collarbone followed through hitting the solid area above where the glass once was and I flew over the top of the car and landed flat on my back behind it. The driver got out and started shouting about how it was my fault and that I'd have to pay for the damage, he then said that he was more concerned about making sure I was ok and pulled his car over across the road out of the way.

A few people were on the scene by this point and within a minute or so they informed me that he was driving off, I assume he spoke to a guy who was parked in the bus stop and saw the whole thing and realised that it was actually his fault and not mine. I didn't really care because I'd touched my collarbone and realised that it was not in great shape. An ambulance just happened to be passing so there was no waiting about, I told them that my collarbone was broken but that the rip in my jeans was a lot worse than the graze underneath it. In the ambulance they took a look at it and told me it was a teeny bit worse than a graze then pumped me full of morphine, sweet!

I was attempting to go straight on as demonstrated by the red arrow, the witness in the bus stop is in green, the driver is in blue. The dashed line shows how I tried, in vain, to avert disaster.

A point-of-view shot of where it happened, the van is where the dude pulled out, you can see here how tight the corner I tried to get round actually is, I didn't stand a chance :-(

Just before I was put on the stretcher and bundled into the ambulance.

Morphine+gas=mongsville

Right clavicle, 4 pieces

The 'graze' on my right thigh required 3 stitches to put the muscle back together and 15 on the outside, gross!

I was stitched up and given a shit, useless sling and sent home to return 2 days later to attend the fracture clinic. After a four hour wait on the Monday I got in to see the doctor who said that I would probably need surgery and that I should come back on Wednesday to see the specialist (who agreed). So tomorrow I go in to have a plate installed, I already have 2 in my left forearm and really don't want any more but it's for the best.

I spotted this whilst having my leg cleaned, is it a sign?

Waiting for the specialist offered a perfect opportunity to shoot 'self portrait with x-ray'.

The driver has been traced, I don't know anything else about that and I don't really care, a solicitor will deal with him. Until yesterday I was very firmly in the 'shit happens' camp but now I am pretty pissed off about the whole thing, I am growing more bitter as the pain gets worse I think. Why do so many fucking drivers go about the place without really paying any attention to the bloody road??? I'm sure nearly everyone reading this will have at least experienced being scared whilst riding because a driver is useless, it's unbelievable how bad some people are at driving! Thats by the by though compared to the fact that this dude did a runner, I was actually involved in a hit and run! Thats the kind of this you see on The Bill or C.S.I not Llangyfelach Rd at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon, how dare this guy drive his death machine in front of me, pretend that he cared then fuck off???

You see, a year ago I'd have been flat on my back in the middle of the road cursing him for not finishing me off and putting me out of my fucking misery, I have suffered with bad depression for the last 10 years and been plagued by an unescapable fixation with death and how and when I will die, and what is there after death and what is the point of life just to die and everything I did became extremely difficult because it meant NOTHING.

No amount of medication or psychotherapy will ever cure me but since I started cycling 10 months ago I have been the happiest I have ever been, the bike offers me a freedom that I have never experienced before, I can go where I want, when I want and which ever way I want, my mind is clear when I ride, no matter how bad the weather or how steep the hill or how bad the driver I have no once though of dying whilst riding. And now I can't ride, I can sit on my arse and ruminate about life and death again with no escape from my own mind; skin and bones heal but I have wasted far too much of my life crying and shaking and screaming in fear of the knowledge of my own mortality.

This fuckwit has taken away my happiness and I am really pissed off, I am going to be wheeled into theatre for this operation fucking shitting myself that I will be anesthetized and not wake up, I may be faced with something or nothing and the not knowing is killing me. I know it is going to be fine, I will awake to months of physical pain and mental anguish and for the first time in my adult life I welcome that now knowing that I can, in fact, be happy.